


the buried comes crawling back

by AwakeAndAliveSpartan



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Canon Divergent, F/M, Future Fic, nothing after s3 exists in this timeline
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-09
Updated: 2020-08-09
Packaged: 2021-03-05 23:53:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,483
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25793920
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AwakeAndAliveSpartan/pseuds/AwakeAndAliveSpartan
Summary: Grant thought that he had his past locked away and buried, not having to worry about it ever again.Not until his son asks why his classmates why they call his father a traitor.
Relationships: Skye | Daisy Johnson/Grant Ward
Comments: 7
Kudos: 38





	the buried comes crawling back

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Jellybean96](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jellybean96/gifts).



“Hey, shorty, get out of the way!”

The air was knocked out of Adian as a classmate shoved into him, causing him to hit the lockers. He spun around, fighting back the anger he had inherited from his father. “You don’t have to shove me, Gavin!” the thirteen-year-old snapped. He stared up at the bully, a sneer on the boy’s face. 

“Well, sorry that I can’t see you down there.” the boy mocked, looking over at his croney friend. “You’re not even in my line of sight.”

Adian scowled and turned away, readjusting his backpack. He honestly hated going to a SHIELD-sanctioned school sometimes because a lot of his classmates had big heads. Whether that be the status of their parents or whatever powers they had. Even if Adian was a powerless Inhuman at the moment, his parents were still level nine SHIELD agents. But, no one ever paid attention to that. 

“You know, I’ve seen your dad before, Adian. He’s freaking huge. How did a shrimp like you come from someone like him?”

Adian clenched the strap of his backpack so tightly that his knuckles turned stark white. “I haven’t finished growing yet, Gavin. My doctor thinks I’ll be over 6’4”. And besides. The short jokes are getting old, Gavin. You need to drop it. It’s old. It’s tiring at this point.”

He went to walk away, but the boy started taunting him again, wanting to rile him up to the point he exploded. “You know what my dad told me about your dad?”

Adian snarled, “ _ What _ ?”

“He told me that he’s a traitor, Adian. That SHIELD covered it all up so he wouldn’t rot in prison for the rest of his life.” Gavin sneered. 

“Prison?” Adian repeated. He almost laughed. “You do realize that my father’s a  _ superhero _ , right? He’s SHIELD leadership. He wouldn’t do such a thing.”

Gavin smiled, “I think your dad hasn’t been honest with you, Adian.” he stated. “My dad says your dad is a monster and that you’re gonna end up just like him if you aren’t careful. He’s a killer.”

“He’s an  _ assassin. _ ”

“I’ve heard he’s killed innocent people before, but SHIELD refuses to admit it.” Gavin’s friend continued. “Because he would be in federal prison otherwise. Or on death row.”

“You’re lying.” Adian hissed, his anger bubbling back up. “My dad is a hero. He would never do such a thing.” He turned around and started to walk away.

“Then you’re lying to yourself, Adian!” Gavin mocked, his voice echoing down the hall as Adian tried to shut him out. “Your father isn’t who you think he is! Your mom’s just as bad because she had a kid with him!”

Adian tried to ignore him, tears bubbling up in his eyes. There was no way that his father was who Gavin claimed him to be. His father was a  _ hero _ . Someone who did no wrong in his eyes. Grant had a heart of gold when it came to his son. 

Adian knew that his father had a bad past when it came to his parents and siblings, but he rarely mentioned it. Adian’s grandparents and uncle on his father’s side were dead, killed in a freak fire. His father never had mentioned anything else about his past. But, there was no way that his father was anything but a hero. 

He had numbly made his way out to the car rider line outside, finding his Aunt Rosie waiting for him. She would come to pick him up if his parents were too busy to come and do so. He slipped into the passenger’s seat, not saying a word.

“You took a while to come out of the school, Adian.” Rose stated as she started to pull off. She noted the blank look on his face. Adian had his father’s tendency to slip and blank out if something was bothering him. He rarely talked about his problems. “Is everything okay?”

“I’m fine.” he muttered. “It’s nothing.”

Rose sighed, keeping her attention on the road ahead, “Adian, I know you. You’re just like your father. You refuse to talk about what’s bothering you. It’s those bullies again, isn’t it?”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“Look, your height is only temporary, if that’s what is bothering you, Adian. You’re still going through puberty and it’s different with everyone. Heck, your father was a short kid for a while. Scrawny, too. I never thought he would be the hulking brute he is now.” she explained. “Give it time. You’re only thirteen. You’re practically still a baby.”

Adian soon tuned her out, thinking about what the bully had said about his father. Could it be true? Could his father really be some kind of treasonous murderer? He didn’t seem like the type. But, then again, he  _ was  _ an assassin. There was only a thin line between assassin and murderer. So, just what had his father done in the past that was so bad?

Honestly, he feared to know the answer. 

He was quiet the rest of the ride home and went inside without another word to his aunt. His parents wouldn’t be home for another 2 or so hours. And, truly, he didn’t know if he could look his father in the eyes or not. He shut himself in his room to do homework, his German shepherd Captain underneath his feet. 

He heard the front door open about an hour and a half later at 5 on the dot. Captain jumped up and barked, running to the door wanting to be let out as he heard Grant and Skye.

“Adian!” Grant called. “We brought dinner! Come and eat!”

Even if Adian wasn’t particularly hungry, he went and ate anyway. Only because he didn’t want his father dragging him from his room once more. But, that didn’t stop him from being quiet as he nibbled on the burger his parents had brought. Grant eyed him carefully between bites of his own burger, shooting the occasional glance at Skye.

“So, your Aunt Rosie called me earlier.” Grant stated. “She says you barely said a word to her on the way home. What’s wrong?”

Adian kept his eyes away from Grant, not wanting to look his father in the eyes. “I’m fine.” he muttered, looking at his barely eaten burger.

Skye raised an eyebrow, “You’ve barely touched your food and that’s weird for you, Adian. Rose said that she thinks it’s the bullies again.” she said softly. “Is that what happened? Because your height is nothing to worry about. They’re just middle school bullies, they look for anything to make fun of. Don’t pay any attention to them, Adian.”

“Okay.” He pushed away from the table. “I’m not hungry. I’m going to bed.”

Grant frowned and looked at the clock on the stove, “Adian, it’s not even 5:30. It’s still bright out.” he stated, concern in his voice. “Don’t you have homework?”

“I already did it.” He walked away, leaving his burger behind.

“Grant.” Skye looked at her husband once Adian was out of the kitchen. “He’s just like you. He doesn’t talk if something’s wrong. Go talk to him. It’s more about the bullies and his height.”

Grant was already on his feet, “Fine.” he stated, heading towards Adian’s room. He hated when his son got like this. Adian had his inability to properly handle his emotions and would get majorly upset if things weren’t dealt with properly. He reached his son’s closed door and knocked.

“Go away.” 

“Adian, I am not leaving until you tell me what happened, son.” Grant said, Skye right behind him. “I know it just wasn’t about your height. Those assholes said something else to you, didn’t they? I can go up to that damn place and talk to the principle about it.”

“Grant, watch your language!” Skye snapped. “What did I tell you about cussing around him?”

“I really don’t think this is the time for that.” Grant looked back to the door. “Adian, let me in. You aren’t going to sleep until you tell me what’s going on.”

And like that, the door swung open, revealing Adian with red-rimmed eyes. He looked up at his father.

“They said you were a traitor.”

“Oh.”

Grant’s face fell and a tremble started to settle into his hands. He knew that this would come up sooner or later given that Adian was in a SHIELD school. But not this soon. Why would middle schoolers be bringing that up? 

“Adian, what did they say?” Skye asked, coming up as she noticed a glaze starting to coat her husband’s eyes. Grant had done so much to bury away his past because he hated to confront it. His past had been one big mistake.

Adian sniffed, “That he was a traitor and a monster. And that he killed innocent people.” he answered. “They said he should be in jail. And that mom should be ashamed for having me with him.”

Grant looked at his wife, “Do you… Do you think we should tell him?”

“It’s up to you, Grant. It’s your past, not mine.”

Adian frowned, “Wait, what are you talking about?” he asked, looking at his parents. “What about your past?”

Grant swallowed, walking closer to Adian and placing his hand onto the boy’s shoulder. “Adian, I… I was hoping that this could wait until you’re older, but I think you deserve to know. Especially if others know. It saves you trouble in the long run.” He led the teen inside of his room, motioning for him to sit down on the edge of the bed. “And, please, hear me out until the end before you make any judgement. What I did… It’s in the past, Adian. It’s not me anymore and don’t let anyone make you believe otherwise. That guy is dead.”

“Dad, what do you mean? Was that kid right? Were you a traitor?”

Grant sighed and pulled out Adian’s desk chair and sat down as Skye leaned up against the doorway. “I was.” he answered. “I was Hydra for a time.”

Adian’s face fell.

“But, I was never a true believer. I didn’t care about world domination. I got myself involved with the wrong man. And it didn’t end well for me.” Grant took a breath, “He was a man by the name of John Garrett. I thought… I thought I owed him everything. In the end, the psychologists called it Stockholm, but still.”

Adian wasn’t sure of what to say, “What… What did he do?”

“You know that my childhood wasn’t a good one. But, I never told you of how bad it was. Your grandmother and uncle, the ones you never met, beat me, Aunt Rosie, and Uncle Tommy almost on a daily basis. Your grandpa was a senator, he was either too busy or too drunk to care. Over the years, I developed severe trauma-related issues. Many of which I still have. At fifteen, they sent me to a military school to get me out of the way. I didn’t know at the time that I had already landed on Garrett’s radar because of the school’s headmaster. I had good hand-eye coordination or something. 

Your Aunt had sent me a letter describing how bad it had gotten at home without me there.” he continued. “I got angry. I stole a truck and drove hundreds of miles home. Only to burn it to the ground with Christian inside. I didn’t know he was in there, maybe I did. I can’t remember. But, Christian wanted me charged as an adult for attempted murder and first degree arson. I would’ve rotted in prison if Garrett hadn't come. He offered me a way out, but in reality he kidnapped me. Threw me in the Wyoming wilderness for 5 years. He called it training. At the end of things, I thought he had saved me. He had done things to me to make me loyal. Things I wouldn’t dare mention to you right now. Not until you’re older. He had originally told me it was training for SHIELD, but he revealed it was for Hydra. His hold on me was too strong by then for me to do anything.”

Adian remained silent, not sure of what to say.

“He did help me get into SHIELD, though.” Grant continued, a crack in his voice. “I was really SHIELD and only SHIELD for years. Not until the team. Not until I met your mother. Garrett was injured in 1990. He thought SHIELD had abandoned him and had left him for dead.” Grant pointed to his side, “He had an implant in his side that was failing to keep him alive. I was to find a way to fix that. You have heard the stories about what happened with your Papa and Loki, right?”

“Yeah, he died and was brought back to life.”

Grant nodded, “Garrett wanted to know how. He wanted that for himself. He got me onto that team because of that.” he stated. “And when the time came during the Uprising, I chose him over the others.” He ran shaky hands through his hair. “I hurt them. I hurt your mother.” He left most of what he did out. Adian didn’t need to know details right now. “And that led me to my end after Garrett died. I-I was locked in a basement for months. In the dark…” He trailed off and felt himself start to shut down.

Skye took a breath and walked over to him, “Grant, you don’t have to do all of this now, baby.” she said softly. “This is the most you’ve recalled in a long time.”

Grant sighed and shook his head, “I’m fine. Adian needs to hear this from me. But… Can you explain this part for me?” 

“Yeah.” Skye looked back to their son. “We all mistreated him. We were angry. We didn’t understand what Garrett had put him through. We just thought that he was evil and that just made things worse.” she explained. “He broke out sometime later. He came back to help me find your grandfather. My dad. I just… I just didn’t appreciate it at the time.” She didn’t mention the 4 gunshots. “He tried to help us again and we kicked him to the side. And he snapped.”

“I thought I had lost everything and blamed SHIELD for it. I… I created my own branch of Hydra as a result. I thought that’s how I could win.” Grant added in. “I just didn’t know that it would be my end.”

Adian’s face fell even more. If that was actually possible. “You were a Hydra head?”

Grant nodded, “Unfortunately. I thought I could take SHIELD down. I had completely lost it. It led me to another man by the name of Malick. You might learn about him in history one day.” he answered. “He promised me a purpose, something I had always been looking for.”

“We learned about him last week.” Adian stated. “He was a part of an ancient Hydra branch that wanted to bring back some old Inhuman to rule this world.”

“Yeah. He had promised me a place in that new world and I ate it up. I became obsessed. And it led to my death.”

“Huh?”

“This is going to be hard to believe, but your Papa chased me down to the planet that housed the Inhuman and crushed my chest. I died on that planet.”

Adian looked like he was going to throw up. “Papa?”

“Adian, do not put him at fault. He’s apologized again and again after seeing what happened to me. Hive was only a parasite on that planet. It had no physical body.”

“Then how did it come here?”

“It used me.” Grant felt things going numb. “It crawled into my body and possessed it. Used me as a meat puppet. And the funny thing is… My consciousness was still alive. I saw every little thing that it did. All the innocent blood that coated my… My h-hands.” Tears stung in Grant’s eyes. He hated recalling Hive. It had taken him forever to not wake up screaming in terror every night because of it. 

“Grant, sweetheart, focus on reality.” Skye said, putting her hands on his shoulders. “Focus on Adian. We don’t need you slipping now.”

“I… Your mother… She was the one to realize what was going on. That I was still in there. She had also realized what Garrett did to me. She begged the others to save me and in the end your Uncle Fizz and Aunt Jem pulled that thing from me. It left me broken and Inhuman. I was out of it for months. But, your mother got me through it. Helped prove to the others that the bad man had died. I still believe to this day that Hive killed anything bad in me. You came about 3 years later.”

“What about those innocent lives they said you killed?”

“Sweetheart, anyone your father killed was SHIELD or Hydra.” Skye stated. “No one was truly innocent. But, your father isn’t a bad man, Adian. I worked to prove that. He loves you very much and would never hurt anyone on purpose again.” She helped Grant stand to his feet, sensing that he was starting to disassociate. “Don’t let anyone convince you that he is anything other than a loving father. He’s made his mistakes and died for them, Adian. He’s paid for them. He is not that man anymore.”

Skye led Grant out of the room, Captain right behind them. Adian sat there for a while in silence, trying to comprehend everything that his parents had said. To him, it sounded like this Garrett guy had controlled his father. He only ever knew his father as the hero Hellfire. The hero that saved and protected people from the bad guys. He had never done anything wrong in his eyes. To Adian, his father was his entire world. He couldn’t connect the man he had told him about to the man he thought he was. 

But, Adian had seen a broken and crying man. There was no way that someone evil would act like that, right? There was no way that his father had any kind of evil bone in his body. Those bullies were wrong. His father wasn’t a traitor or a monster. 

His dad was a hero who had been through far too much. 

Adian puffed up his chest and left his room, finding his father lying on the couch, a pillow over his eyes. His mother must’ve left him alone for a while. Grant moved the pillow and looked over at him. He sat up as Adian walked over and sat down next to him.

“I thought you would be in your room for the rest of the night.”

“I’m fine.”

Grant raised an eyebrow, “You are?” He wasn’t expecting that. At all.

“Yeah. It’s a lot to take in, but it doesn’t change anything. It just proves those bullies wrong.”

“It does?”

Adian nodded, “I don’t think you’re a monster, Dad.” he stated. “You’ve been through a lot. That’s what all of that sounded like. You let someone else turn you into something you were not. That’s what I think.”

A smile pulled at the ends of Grant’s lips. He could see Skye standing in the doorway out of the corner of his eye, a smile on her face. He focused back onto his son, “So, what are your, uh, thoughts?”

Adian smiled, “I still think you’re a hero, Dad.” he replied. “No matter what those assholes say.”

Grant’s face fell, “Language, Adian.”

“What? You say it all the time.”

“Grant, I told you!” Skye snapped from the doorway. “Adian just picks up whatever you say!”

Grant rolled his eyes and looked back at Adian, “You heard her.”

“She was fussing at you!”

Grant reached out and ruffled Adian’s hair, “You’re like your mother, things just roll right off your back sometimes.” he stated. “Are we good?” he asked. “You know everything you wanna know?”

“Yeah.”

Grant rose to his feet, “Good, because I really don’t feel like explaining anything else.” he stated. “That’s enough heartfelt conversation for one night.” He walked over to Skye, who wrapped an arm around his waist. “If those bullies give you any more trouble, I’ll come up to that school and give them a piece of my mind.” He went to walk off with Skye, but Adian stopped him.

“Dad?”

Grant turned to look at him, “Hmm?”

“I still love you.”

Grant smiled, knowing that he truly had the world now. The man he once was had been long dead. Everyone had forgiven him. He had a loving wife and a loving son. In a way, this made all that hell he had gone through completely worth it in the end.

“I love you, too, Adian.”

**Author's Note:**

> And just a little oneshot that came from an ask with a friend on Tumblr! Because, let's face it, this is the true canon and s4-7 doesn't exist and everyone's happy, right? I hope that you enjoyed! Find me on Tumblr @grantwrd!


End file.
